BEVERLY HILLS (MI) — The one hope of Flyer fans (including this one) at the end of every hoops campaign can be summed up in this solitary thought:

That the question is not if the Flyers are playing in the Big Dance, but where

We got our collective wish this year, despite a semi-meaningless loss to GW and a quarter final exit from the A-10 Tournament in Pittsburgh. Sure, UD Pride MB poster Tony T 71 still had to start his annual “UD Bubble Watch” thread, but truth be told, there was NFW the Committee was going to bounce a team with an RPI of 21 because of the above minor setbacks.

And they didn’t.

What they probably did do was move UD from a #6 seed to a #7; VCU came in at a #10 and URI as a #11.

That’s respect.

What they also did was match the Flyers up with a grossly under-seeded #10 in Wichita State. Thanks a lot guys.

That’s questionable.

The Committee also wisely neglected to include Syracuse, with their #84 RPI, 18-14 record and a penchant for not playing anybody on the road, as their 2-11 record away from the Carrier Dome indicates.

That’s progress.

Still, the Committee continued the annoying habit of pitting non-Power 5 conference teams against each other in the 1st Round, vis-a-vis, UD/WSU, Gonzaga/SDSU and St. Mary’s/VCU.

That still needs some work.

Lots to cover in this NCAA Tournament edition of “FTS”:

— The NCAA and CBS/Turner Sports have released the tip times and announcer pairings for the NCAAs. Not only is UD/WSU in prime time on CBS, we get the A Team in Jim Nantz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery and Tracy Wolfson:

http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2017/03/12/2017-ncaa-tournament-tip-times-and-announcer-pairings/

Coupla funny pieces on the irrepressible Raftery:

From competitor FoxSports.com:

http://www.foxsports.com/college-basketball/story/bill-raftery-interview-podcast-onions-send-it-in-jerome-catch-phrases-030717

From The New York Post:

http://nypost.com/2017/03/11/bill-raftery-shares-the-best-from-50-years-of-ncaa-memories/

— Quite a tribute to Big Steve from Jeremiah Bonsu in The Players Tribune:

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/university-of-dayton-for-steve-mcelvene/

— If that doesn’t get you going, then this video surely will:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7veX70XSkM

— Campus Insiders takes a look at the Flyers and Shockers:

https://campusinsiders.com/news/dayton-vs-wichita-state-prediction-game-preview-03-07-2017/

— Matt Norlander at CBS Sports includes UD/WSU in his list of “Top five must-watch first-round games”:

http://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ncaa-tournament-tv-schedule-top-five-must-watch-first-round-march-madness-games/

— Meanwhile, Sports on Earth has WSU over UD as their #1 first round upset:

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/219154866/ncaa-tournament-upset-pick-ranking-first-round

— Proving my point above about matching Dayton vs. WSU, Bleacher Report includes UD in a list of “Teams that got screwed by the NCAA Bracket”:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2697558-march-madness-2017-who-got-screwed-in-the-ncaa-bracket

— The Dayton Flyers rank #37 in terms of team nicknames:

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/219110810/ncaa-tournament-mascot-nickname-rankings

— My buddy David Levy at Turner Broadcasting had a hand in wisely trimming the Selection Sunday Show from 90 minutes to 60 and cutting to the chase with the release of the brackets:

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/news/cbs-sports-sunday-selection-show-ncaa-march-madness-turner-sports-charles-barkley-david-levy-2-hours-90-minutes/kpuuuo59godeznx2ytkpgeau

— “The Sweet Tweets of the Week” come from a reliable source in Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports:

Wichita State and Dayton have combined for 10 total victories in the past three NCAA Tournaments. One of the best matchups in Round of 64.

And a totally unexpected one, in perennial knucklehead Doug Gottlieb:

Dayton over Wichita. Dayton starts all seniors, all tourney tested, not soft. Will be a good game, but UD is impeccably coached like WSU

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
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